With so many inventions to assist parents in keeping track and taking care of their children, parenting has changed significantly over the past 100 years. The first big invention was baby formula which was invented in 1865 (ncbi) for mothers who were unable to breastfeed, it became commercialized and by 1958 70% of mothers were using baby formula (parentschoiceformula).
Other inventions that followed the invention of formula were the use of baby cribs in the early 1900s (simplybabyfurniture), the baby monitor in 1937 (ligo.co.uk) and the jolly jumper in 1910 (lemelson). These inventions took the place of natural parenting techniques, also known as attachment parenting, like co-sleeping, breastfeeding, baby wearing, and quick responses to crying. Attachment parenting is the most beneficial parenting style for both babies and their parents. There is a surprisingly large controversy on whether parents should practice attachment parenting.
People who are against the practice of attachment parenting exist due to a lack of understanding on what it involves. Even with the negativity, there are many recommendations on attachment parenting that it is beneficial for not only children, but for their parents as well. Parents should practice attachment parenting because it helps decrease stress, it strengthens the parent-child bond, and can help improve an infant’s health.
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Most controversies towards co-sleeping are misunderstandings. When talking about co-sleeping, many people assume it refers to parents bringing their children to sleep in the same bed as them at night. Co-sleeping is not only bed sharing, it is additionally room sharing where the baby is close enough to sense their parents. Another thing most people do not understand about co-sleeping is that they need to babyproof, and the baby needs to sleep on their back. A couple more necessary steps to safely co-sleep are to remove all large items such as pillows, fluffy blankets and stuffed animals as well as not dressing the baby in too tight or too hot of clothes while they sleep.
Some parents who think they have an understanding of co-sleeping, do not complete any research on it and that is when problems arise. Some benefits of co-sleeping are the baby will learn to rouse themselves at night, regulate their breathing, and regulate their body temperature. Hospitals are working to become baby friendly by phasing out infant nurseries except in cases where a baby needs to go to the neonatal-intensive care unit. Baby friendly hospitals find it beneficial for a baby to room in with their mother and to breastfeed (californiabreastfeeding.org). Breastfeeding mothers should be co-sleeping to keep up their breastfeeding journey longer since the closeness with.
This increases the amount of sleep parents will get without constantly running in and out of their own bedroom to retrieve their baby. If education on the benefits of co-sleeping was given, fewer parents would have their children sleeping in a separate room. A facebook poll showed a trend that the majority of parents who did not co-sleep with their first child, but did with their second. Many parents are raised to believe that children belong in a separate room, but if adults enjoy sleeping next to someone so why would a baby want to sleep alone?
The weight restrictions for baby jumpers limit the use from usually around three months until the baby weighs around 28 pounds, this makes it an issue of what to do with a baby before there is a safe place to put them down when there are simple chores to be done, or a parent is home alone. A solution is that parents should baby wear because most baby carriers are usable from when a baby is seven pounds until they weigh 45 pounds (lillebaby). Babies worn have been proven to cry less frequently than babies who are not. “Hunziker and Garr are researchers who found that babywearing for three hours a day reduced infant crying by 43 percent overall and 54 percent during evening hours.”
Another benefit is when held close to their mother, she will learn to recognize initial signs of hunger without the baby needing to cry reducing stress. This awareness of a baby’s needs makes for more confident parents and a closer bond as well. (mamanatural.com) In order to avoid a baby developing a flat back of their head, parents can baby wear to prevent a baby from always being on their back(Childrensmd). Parents who complain that babywearing causes them back problems, need to evaluate various types of baby carriers and baby wearing options. Babywearing should be practiced because it is more convenient and is easier to navigate in comparison to pushing around a stroller.
Every parent should baby wear because as they are constantly moving, the infant is learning balance and their inner ear is developing (childrensmd). Babywearing should be done by adopted parents to create a bond with their new baby or toddler. It gives the adopted child an opportunity to learn the sound of their parents heartbeat and their smell, as well as feel warm and comfortable in a new environment. Babywearing soothes babies because they feel more protected close to their parents than they would anywhere else.
The use of baby formula is not very convenient in comparison to breast milk, as it can run out at any time, and it takes time to prepare. On the Parent’s Choice Formula website, they suggest that you try to breastfeed before turning to formula because of benefits and reduced risks of diseases that breastfeeding provides. Formula babies tend to have a harder time digesting their food which can cause them pain and discomfort while breast milk is tailored specifically to each baby’s needs.
The saying “breast is best” is not a way to shame parents who choose to formula feed, but is to help encourage breastfeeding. One benefit is that breastfeeding during or after immunizations decreases pain for the infant. Mothers who nurse should be encouraged to do so during immunizations in order to decrease the pain of their infant (cochrane). While discussing nursing a child to sleep, Doctor Narvaez states “Nursing and cuddling to sleep offers comfort for your child, a closeness that is associated with positive developmental outcomes.”
Breast milk should be provided to an infant for at least one month to help decrease the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by 50%. Although decreasing sudden infant death syndrome is only one of the benefits of breastfeeding, it is also one of the most important because in 2016 sudden infant death syndrome accounts accounted for 42% of infant deaths (cdc.gov). A health benefit of breastfeeding is that it can reduce the risks that a child will suffer with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia and childhood obesity (aap.org).
When a parent allows their child to cry it out, the parent may experience anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, guilt, shame, rejection, anger, or frustration. Parents should avoid allowing their child to cry it out because these feelings negatively affect the parent and child bond (jstor). An example of babies who have cried it out and are silent is babies in a Romanian orphanage in 2007. With only three caretakers, not all of the babies cries were able to be responded to immediately and the majority of the time the caretakers were spread too thin to give the children the extra attention they need.
The babies stop crying after a week of not having their cries responded to once they realize it is pointless (Griffiths). No child should ever give up on their hope that someone will come and soothe them and take care of their needs. Responding promptly to a babies cry makes parents learn different ways to interpret what their babies need. Instead of crying, a baby may suck on their hand when they are hungry, they may rub their eyes or lay their head down when they are tired.
Parents should practice attachment parenting. The majority of the advertisements against attachment parenting leave out the details on how the parents were not correctly doing attachment parenting giving it a bad name. Attachment parenting helps prevent an infant’s stress because they don’t cry as often, it will increase their bonds with their parents, and it will teach them trust when they learn they can count on their caregivers.
